Kodak's financial woes

I was extremely discouraged to hear that Kodak appears to be on its last legs financially and may not survive as a company.

It was bad enough when Kodak ditched Tech Pan - and it was a tragedy when Kodachrome fell by the wayside. Now Tri-X and the entire Kodak product line of film, chemicals and paper appears to be in peril of extinction, along with the entire Kodak company.

How Kodak could go from a worth of $30 billion to today's estimate of $200 million is simply incomprehensible. Not all of that can be blamed on the advent of digital, it would seem. In a world where new emulsions are hitting the market and large format sheet film can still be found in a reasonable variety of sizes and emulsions, how is it possible that Tri-X is in danger of disappearing??

I'm just wondering what others who shoot Tri-X are going to do for film if Tri-X goes extinct.

"My idea of a good life is that I wake up in the morning, go out and look around and make four rolls of film a day." - Josef Koudelka

"There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are." - Ernst Haas

"Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always make it a point to carry a camera with me at all times…I just shoot at what interests me at that moment." – Elliott Erwitt

I'll shoot HP5 and Delta 3200 in place of Tri-X and TMZ. I'll use more Delta 3200 than I do TMZ now because I will need more speed than HP5 in places I currently use Tri-X, plus TMZ only comes in 35mm and I currently shoot Delta 3200 in 120.

Far from the end of the world for black and white. The more threatening area is color.

Fuji's 400H and 160S and C (or whatever it is now) were never very good to my eye. If supplies of Kodak film became scarce I don't know what I would do with my film cameras…Nothing compares to the new Portra 400 or Ektar. Just as I was interested in getting another 4x5 camera too.

"When making a portrait, my approach is quite the same as when I am portraying a rock. I do not wish to impose my personality upon the sitter, but, keeping myself open to receive reactions from his own special ego, record this with nothing added: except of course when I am working professionally, when money enters in,—then for a price, I become a liar..."

It is best for all if there are more companies in the market with there own specs so everybody can choose which they like the most.
If there is only one player, prices will go up and you have no selection of material to use for a certain job.

Fuji stopped the neopan 400 som time ago. So they are also shrinking to survive. If kodak stops, there is almost no 400 left...